Snow White

Which images make readers remember your story?

I know nothing of what those beyond my story remember, but I can tell you the images that mark my life. There is the snow beside my mother’s window, with red blood against it and a black ebony frame. There is my stepmother’s mirror, which told a truth she could not bear. Then come the seven dwarfs’ cottage, the poisoned apple with its tempting red half, and the glass coffin where I lay. These things hold the turns of my story: a wish, jealousy, shelter, danger, and an unexpected return to life.

Why does your story still matter to readers?

I know nothing of lives beyond my own story, or of what people in other times may find in it. What I can speak of is how quickly a home became dangerous when jealousy ruled it, and how much a stranger’s kindness could mean. The huntsman spared me, and the dwarfs gave me shelter and twice saved me. I also learned that a pleasing gift could hide harm. Those things matter within my life because beauty did not keep me safe, while mercy and care gave me another chance.

What one piece of advice would you give someone reading your story?

I would ask you to notice the kindness as carefully as the danger. The mirror and the poisoned apple are striking, but I would not have reached the cottage if the huntsman had carried out his command. Nor would I have survived the laces and the comb without the dwarfs returning to help me. I made mistakes when I trusted the disguised queen, yet my story is not only about those mistakes. It is also about the people who found me in danger and chose to care for me.

What do you most regret about ignoring the dwarfs' warnings?

What I most regret is that I let tempting gifts outweigh the dwarfs’ warnings. They had offered me a safe home and told me not to admit anyone while they were away. Still, I welcomed the bodice, allowed the comb into my hair, and at last accepted the apple after the disguised queen ate part of it. I did not understand whom I was trusting. Twice the dwarfs could save me, but after the apple they could not wake me. Their care deserved more heed than I gave it.

What form did justice take at your wedding?

At my wedding, justice took a terrible form. My stepmother was forced to dance in red-hot iron slippers until she died. That was the end of the queen who had sent me into the forest to be killed and had pursued me with poisoned gifts when I escaped. I can tell what happened, but I would not soften its cruelty by calling it gentle. The wedding brought my own escape from danger beside a punishment that was itself harsh and dreadful.

What made it hard to feel safe while your stepmother was searching for you?

I could leave my stepmother's home, but I could not hide from her mirror. It told her where I was, so the shelter I found with the dwarfs was never quite beyond her reach. While they worked in the mountains, I remained at the cottage, warned not to admit anyone. Yet she came disguised, and I did not recognise the danger behind the things she offered. What made safety so uncertain was that she could find me, while I could fail to know her.

How did your daily life change when you moved in with the dwarfs?

I went from being a king's daughter in my father's home to seeking food and somewhere to rest in a little cottage in the forest. When the seven dwarfs heard my story, they agreed that I could stay if I kept house for them. My days became those of a housemaid while they went to work in the mountains. There was shelter and kindness in that arrangement, but also a rule I needed to remember: I was not to admit anyone while they were away.

What did escaping your stepmother cost you in freedom?

I escaped my stepmother, but I could not simply return home or go wherever I pleased without fear. I had promised the huntsman that I would never come back. When the seven dwarfs gave me shelter, I agreed to do the housework in exchange for a home. They also warned me not to let anyone in while they worked in the mountains. My safety depended on keeping apart from strangers, yet my stepmother found me even there. Escape gave me shelter, not an end to danger.

How did you find food and shelter in the dwarfs' cottage?

After fleeing into the forest, I came upon the seven dwarfs' cottage and went inside looking for food and somewhere to rest. It became more than a brief refuge. I told the dwarfs how my stepmother had tried to have me killed, and they allowed me to stay if I would do the housework. I accepted that arrangement. They went to work in the mountains and warned me not to admit anyone while they were away. Their little home offered shelter when I could not return to my own.

What happened during the queen's visit with the laced bodice?

My stepmother found my hiding place through her mirror and came to the cottage in disguise. I did not recognize her. She offered me a colourful laced bodice, and I welcomed it despite the dwarfs' warning not to admit anyone. When she tightened the laces, she drew them so tightly that I fainted. The pretty thing she brought had hidden a cruel purpose. The dwarfs found me and revived me, but the danger had reached the very cottage where I had hoped to be safe.

How did the poisoned comb become the queen's second attack?

The queen came again in disguise, this time with a beautiful comb. The dwarfs had already saved me after she tightened the bodice until I fainted, yet I still did not recognize her beneath this new appearance. I allowed the supposed seller to stroke my hair with the comb. It was poisoned, and what seemed a lovely gift became another attack on my life. The dwarfs saved me again. Twice, my stepmother had hidden her cruelty behind something attractive, and twice their help brought me back.

How did the disguised queen persuade you to taste the apple?

I hesitated when the disguised queen offered me the apple. Then she ate part of it herself, and that made the offer seem safe enough for me to accept. I did not know that the red half was poisoned. I bit into that half and fell into a sleep from which the dwarfs could not wake me. Her trick was not merely to bring something tempting, but to appear to share it without harm. This time, the dwarfs' care could not immediately bring me back.

Why did the dwarfs place you in a glass coffin?

The dwarfs placed me in a glass coffin because they could not wake me after I bit the poisoned apple. They had saved me when the queen tightened my bodice and again when she used the poisoned comb, but this time their help could not bring me back. I lay in a sleep that seemed like death. The glass coffin held me while I remained motionless, until the prince asked to take me away. My awakening came only during that later journey.

How did the prince come to take your coffin away?

The prince came while I lay in the glass coffin, unable to speak or stir, and asked to take me away. That is how the journey began. I can tell you that he made the request, but I cannot add words or promises that are not part of my story. During the journey, a servant tripped, and that accident changed everything for me. The piece of poisoned apple came out of my throat, and the sleep that had held me finally ended.

What actually woke you from your death-like sleep?

It was the piece of poisoned apple coming out of my throat that woke me. While my coffin was being carried away, a servant tripped, and the jolt dislodged it. Until then, I had lain in a death-like sleep that even the dwarfs could not end. They had rescued me from the queen's earlier attacks, but the apple had defeated their efforts. My awakening came through that accident on the journey, not through another gift or a word spoken over me.

What happened between your awakening and your marriage to the prince?

After the apple came out of my throat and I woke, the prince asked me to marry him, and I agreed. That is the clear step between my awakening and our wedding. I have no further account of preparations or conversations to give you. Before that moment, I had fled my home, found shelter with the dwarfs, and suffered the queen's three attacks. Now I was awake again, and I accepted the proposal. At the wedding, the queen's pursuit of me came to its terrible end.

Why was the age of seven a turning point in your story?

I was seven when the mirror first named me fairer than the queen. That answer turned her jealousy against me and made my place at home dangerous. She ordered a huntsman to take me into the forest and kill me. I begged him to spare my life, and he let me escape. So that age marks the change from living as a king's daughter at home to fleeing for safety and finding shelter with the seven dwarfs. Her envy, not anything I had done, set those events in motion.

Why was the queen's truthful mirror dangerous to you?

The mirror was dangerous because its truthful answers served the queen's jealousy. When it named me fairer than she was, she wanted me killed. Later, after the huntsman spared me and I found shelter with the dwarfs, the mirror revealed that I was still alive and helped her discover my hiding place. Truth alone did not make her kind or keep me safe. In her hands, the mirror became a way to pursue me, even after I had fled far from her home.

What promise did you make to the huntsman in return for your life?

I promised the huntsman that I would never return home if he spared my life. The queen had ordered him to kill me in the forest, and I begged him to let me live instead. Returning to her was not what I wanted; I would rather escape into the woods than face her again. He let me go, and I kept fleeing until I found the dwarfs' cottage. My promise was a plea for the chance to live, even without the home I had known.

What did you tell the dwarfs about your stepmother?

I told the dwarfs that my stepmother had tried to have me killed and that I had escaped into the forest. I trusted them with the danger that had driven me to their cottage. I needed food and a place to rest, but I also needed shelter from someone who wished me harm. They agreed that I could stay if I did the housework. They also warned me not to let anyone in while they were away working in the mountains, though the queen later deceived me in disguise.

What agreement allowed you to stay with the dwarfs?

I could stay with the seven dwarfs if I worked as their housemaid. I had fled into the forest to escape my stepmother, and their cottage offered the food, rest, and shelter I needed. I told them how she had ordered the huntsman to kill me, and I accepted the work in return for a safe home. It was a very different place from the home I had left, but they gave me somewhere to stay when I could not return.

What rule did the dwarfs give you before leaving for the mountains?

Before they went to work in the mountains, the dwarfs warned me not to let anyone into the cottage while they were away. They knew that my stepmother wished me harm, and their warning was meant to keep me safe. Yet I welcomed a woman who offered a colourful laced bodice, and later allowed a disguised comb seller to touch my hair. I did not recognise the queen beneath those disguises. Their warning was clear, but I trusted appearances when I should have remembered the danger.

How did the queen discover that you were still alive?

My stepmother learned that I was still alive from her magic mirror. The huntsman had spared me in the forest, and I had found shelter with the seven dwarfs, but neither distance nor the cottage could hide me from its truthful answers. The mirror revealed that I had survived and helped her discover my hiding place. What had first stirred her jealousy also allowed her to pursue me. I had escaped her command to the huntsman, but I had not escaped her wish to destroy me.

Why did the queen disguise herself when she visited the cottage?

She disguised herself so that I would not recognise the stepmother from whom I had fled. I knew she wanted me dead, but I did not see her beneath the appearance of someone bringing something beautiful. First there was a colourful bodice, then a lovely comb, and finally an apple. Her disguises let her come close enough to harm me despite the dwarfs' warning. She made each visit seem different, though the same jealousy and the same cruel purpose lay behind them all.

How did the dwarfs save you after the first two attacks?

The dwarfs revived me after the queen tightened the bodice laces until I fainted, and they saved me again after she used the poisoned comb. I can tell you that they brought me back from both attacks, though I have no further account to give of exactly how they did it. Each time, something beautiful had concealed the danger: first the bodice I welcomed, then the comb I allowed into my hair. Their help saved my life, but the queen returned with another disguise.

Why could the queen eat part of the apple without being poisoned?

The poison was in the red half of the apple, the half I bit. My stepmother could eat from the other part without suffering what happened to me. I had hesitated to accept it, but seeing her eat some made the apple seem safe. That was the cruelty of her trick: the very act that appeared to answer my fear helped conceal the danger. I trusted what I saw her do, not knowing that the two portions would have such different effects.

How was the apple attack different from the queen's earlier attempts?

The apple left me in a death-like sleep from which the dwarfs could not revive me. They had saved me after the tightly laced bodice and the poisoned comb, but this time their help was not enough, and they placed me in a glass coffin. My awakening came later, during the journey after a prince asked to take me away. A servant tripped, and the piece of apple came loose from my throat. Unlike the earlier attacks, this one seemed to have ended my life.

How did beauty become a danger rather than a protection in your life?

My beauty became dangerous when my stepmother's mirror named me fairer than she was. I was only seven, yet she treated that answer as a reason to have me killed. Being a king's daughter did not protect me from her jealousy, and fleeing to the dwarfs did not stop her pursuit. The mirror told the truth, but she answered that truth with cruelty. What kept me alive was not beauty: it was the huntsman's mercy, the dwarfs' shelter and help, and the apple finally coming loose.